Within the last year or so, Hughes Electronics has made available for sale to the public through a licensing program with both Sony and RCA the right to market Digital Satellite Receiver and their antennae. These antennae receive signals from one or more satellites in the sky which signals comprise television programing. This appliance includes both a control box with the circuitry therein, and an 18-inch satellite dish attached to a base, the latter of which is intended for permanent or semipermanent attachment to a building. But to the surprise of many, more than half of the sales have been to owners of recreational vehicles.
While the satellite dish could be permanently affixed to the roof of the vehicle in some way, such is not recommended. It is well known that the dish must be aligned within a specific angle range for maximum resolution. While this is possible even if the recreational vehicle, be it a motor home, a 5th wheel type towed by a pickup truck or a towable trailer or even a pickup truck with a camper shell, -all of which hereinafter shall be termed an RV- is parked on nonlevel ground or on a hill, the cost of such systems is several times higher than the standard off the shelf DSD units, the latter of which are available today for as little as $600.00. For example, the DBS-3000 unit sold by Datron has an MSRP of about $1,600.00, while the Winegard system for RVs bears an MSRP of $1000.00.
The problem with the fixedly mounted units lies in the inability to obtain a clear signal due to the presence of trees in the line of sight to the satellite. More often than not, the RV must be parked in a defined location, -level or not- and as such it may be impossible to align the DSD toward the satellite due to the presence of trees in the area.
Thus there has been found to exist a need for a stand for the digital satellite dish which can be used by owners of an RV as well as campers traveling by car or truck and apartment dwellers as well, who either can not or choose not to attach hardware to the roof or to a wall of a 5 or 20 story building, but who do have an outdoor patio as part of the apartment.
It is an object therefore to provide a stand for the digital satellite dish television antenna--hereinafter DSD-.
It is a second object to provide a stand having a mounting head which can be preset in a generally vertical plane for the receipt of the mounting section of the DSD in order to ensure proper alignment of the DSD, no matter the attitude of the legs of the stand.
It is another object to provide a folding stand for a DSD that can be setup and taken down in a few minutes.
It is yet another object to provide a low cost and lightweight stand for a DSD.
It is a further object to provide a DSD stand that is self-supporting and need not be attached to a wall.
It is a yet further object to provide a DSD stand, whose head section can be set to be straight up and down, such that the electronic elevation settings of the DSD can be utilized without compromise.
It is an additional object to provide a satellite antenna support with legs that rotate for easy storage.
Other objects of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter.
The invention accordingly comprises the device possessing the features properties and the relation of components which are exemplified in the following detailed disclosure and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the appended claims.
For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention reference should be made to the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.